Superheroes
by Shimegami
Summary: Introspective drabbles on possible side effects of the various mutant powers. Next: Scott: Everything was red. And he hated it.
1. Fall Through: Kitty

Superheroes By: Shimegami Warnings: er...angst in some parts? Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue. AN: OMG. I wrote a x-men evo fic. With more to come. O_O Someone needs to put a warning label on Evo Kurt saying "Addictive! Watch at your own risk!" And Pietro. I like Pietro. Strange. Anyhoo, this is just a series of one-shots, utilizing different views on their powers. Strange side effects. Whee. I wrote something other than anime. *wanders off dazed*  
  
Superheroes  
  
First Up: Kitty Summary: Someone's having a touching problem, and it's not Rogue. And those falling dreams get you every time.  
  
Fall Through  
  
She had to be extra careful around people. Even more careful than Rogue.  
  
Her power came as natural as breathing. It was just so natural, so much easier to go straight through things. Her power didn't hurt anything (unless the thing was electronic) but she had to be even more careful. Because her power relied on her memory. She had to constantly remind herself, keep herself in check, so as not to reveal herself. She couldn't just cover up with clothes and be done with it.  
  
And so she had to be extra careful with people. Didn't want to try to lay a hand on someone's shoulder and fall through them, right? That wouldn't do anyone good.  
  
She often wondered about things. About her power, what would happen if she did a certain thing. For example, just what exactly kept her together? What defined her body parts as "her" and not just more solid objects? What if she accidentally phased through her insides, leaving them behind?  
  
She really needed to keep herself busier. So she didn't think of things like this.  
  
But it was a Saturday. Her room was clean for once. She was full, all of her homework was done, all her chores, no Danger Room sessions, and everyone else either occupied or away. So, in short, she was alone and had nothing to remedy that problem.  
  
So she thought about things.  
  
It was bothersome, always having to watch out for people. At the Institute, she could phase through anybody and get nothing more than a startled rebuke. But at the high school or other public places she had to concentrate hard to avoid any mishaps.  
  
And then of course, night came with its own problems.  
  
It happened at least once every two weeks. The falling nightmare. She would be flying, flying high, and everything was so wonderful. Then it stopped and she fell.  
  
And fell. And fell.  
  
And would wake up falling right into the subterranean levels of the mansion, or sometimes halfway through the ceiling if she woke up early, or sometimes landing on a startled Rahne who had the unlucky chance to be the person sleeping in the bed below her.  
  
Every time she was stopped by something. And every time she wondered what would happen if she weren't.  
  
Just what was keeping her above ground? What kept ground solid for her? What would happen if she happened to fall through and kept falling and falling?  
  
Journey to the center of the Earth in real-time.  
  
She didn't like thinking about this, because if she did, she thought about just how ground stayed solid for her to walk on, and if she thought too hard about that, maybe it would *stop* being solid and she *would* fall.  
  
She didn't even know if she had to breathe while her powers were activating. She never stayed in something solid long enough. In, out, straight through, no time to check. She supposed she might not have to, for the times when she stayed half-phased through something she had never been hurt. And she knew she was not hurt by anything solid while she was in it, no matter what the temperature. She could even phase through water if she wanted. It might even be fun, take a quick trip to China, courtesy of her powers.  
  
But she didn't know if she could breathe that way. And that put a damper on things.  
  
Her thoughts took a different, if no less common route. Just what was considered solid for her? She could go through rock, brick, metal, plants, animals, people....the list went on and on.  
  
But just what was *solid* for her? She could already phase through water, and water was not a solid by scientific designation. If she could go through liquids, why not gases?  
  
Why not even the air?  
  
This was slightly scary (what if she phased the air right out of her lungs?) but slightly cool. Everybody went through air, but not *through* it. And if she really didn't need to breathe while phasing, then she didn't need to breathe it.  
  
Maybe she could even phase through gravity.  
  
Her scientific mind scoffed at this. Gravity was a force, not a physical object.  
  
But she couldn't help imagining. What if she wasn't physically "there" while phasing? What if she could just phase and...step away? Float through air and gravity. Fly to outer space and beyond.  
  
She got up off the bed, where she had been sitting contemplating, and walked to her balcony. A minor adjustment of her mind, a push just *so*, and she was through the glass doors.  
  
It was sunny, but pleasantly cool. Fall was rapidly running out, and its rather unusual balminess was giving way to the usual cold of winter. Several wisps of icy clouds (cirrus clouds, her mind labeled absently) drifted lazily in the sky. A gentle breeze brushed her bangs and caused her ponytail to gently sway.  
  
It was a perfect day for flying.  
  
Really, what was she scared of? What was she waiting for?  
  
She closed her eyes, and concentrated.  
  
And she was gone.  
  
Through the air, through the sky, through the gravity. She just seemed to take off, flying upwards through the crystalline blue. In her mind, she knew that really she was *falling*, let go off the sphere of Earth, and was actually falling into space, but she didn't care about that right now.  
  
Really, she was flying. And it was wonderful.  
  
And then it stopped. With a terrible lurch, her powers reversed. And she fell.  
  
And fell.  
  
And fell.  
  
And landed hard on her back, cold metal leaking through her pajamas. She awoke with a gasp, to find herself staring at the metallic corridor ceiling of the subterranean walkways. She had fallen through the mansion, again.  
  
She shakily sat up, ignoring the slight pain in her back that would later come back raging with a bruise in protest of the rough landing. She curled up and hugged her knees to her chest, leaning slightly against the wall to reassure herself that it was solid. She had fallen right outside the Danger Room. How ironic.  
  
The damn falling dream again.  
  
Every time, it started out with her contemplating her powers. Then she phased through gravity and then every time, it stopped and she fell, only to wake up somewhere other than her bedroom.  
  
And it was always so *real*.  
  
She shuddered, and tried not to think of it. She had them so often, and it was the same result every time. She was always glad she woke up.  
  
If she didn't, she would keep falling. And maybe the ground wouldn't stop her that time.  
  
"Kitty? Are you all right?"  
  
The gentle, soothing voice and the faint metallic whirr told her who greeted her. She looked up to meet Professor Xavier's caring gaze. She nodded faintly, shuddering.  
  
He smiled gently and held out his hand. "The falling dream again?"  
  
She nodded once more, taking his hand as she stood. She'd had it since childhood and the addition of her powers had given it a unique twist.  
  
He turned his wheelchair around, keeping hold of her hand at the same time. "Do you think you can go back to sleep right now? If not, we can go to the kitchen and make some nice tea to calm you down until you can go back to sleep."  
  
She smiled weakly. "That sounds nice. But I don't want to keep you up...."  
  
The faint whine started again as he started the chair, gently leading her down the hall. He gave a soft chuckle. "Do not worry yourself, Kitty. I wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway. And I'd rather see you happy and comfortable rather than worry over a few hours of lost sleep." They arrived at the elevator as he ended his sentence. They boarded it silently, and it hummed quietly as it bore them towards the surface.  
  
"You couldn't sleep, Professor?" It was intruding, but she never really thought about things like that, and her manners weren't in tip-top shape after yet another trip to the basement via "sleep phasing".  
  
He gave her a smile. "Sometimes the voices get too strong, even for someone with shields such as myself. I usually roam about inspecting things when it happens."  
  
"Oh." There wasn't really much to say to that.  
  
A soft ding announced their arrival at the intended floor. As the doors opened with a faint swoosh, they exited the elevator.  
  
"Kitty." The professor's tone turned soft. "If you wish, after you drink your tea, I can put you to sleep and make sure you don't dream of falling again tonight."  
  
She blinked, surprised. "I don't want to trouble you...with the voices and all."  
  
He waved her off with a smile. "Sometimes it helps to focus in on one mind. It tends to drown the others out. It's no trouble at all. Do you want to?"  
  
Kitty smiled, a genuine one. "That'd be nice, Professor."  
  
She wouldn't be falling again.  
  
~End of Fall Through~  
  
AN: o.O;;; ....I originally didn't intend for Prof X to appear....but he wormed his way in. Originally it was just Kitty getting freaked about what exactly her powers were capable of, and then the dream idea was added, and voila! Although I then had to make up why he was up so late. The part with the voices was utter BS, but I was rather eager to end it.  
  
Technical Note: I have no idea if Kitty's room is directly above Rahne's or the Danger Room. Maybe there are diagrams out there with exact placements, but that fit my story, so it's like that. 


	2. Shades of Red: Scott

AN: Hmmm....Why did I choose Scott? Because he's nice and easy to do. I wanted to do Kurt, but I haven't come up with a suitable plotline, and I want his to be really good.  
  
Shades of Red  
  
Everything was tinted red.  
  
It was annoying.  
  
It was like being blind. It had been years since he had seen any other colors besides red, black, and the occasional shades of orange and purple.  
  
He was beginning to forget what blue looked like.  
  
Kurt looked like a large mass of purple; his blue coloring blending with the red haze. Kitty had red hair and violet eyes. Evan looked like a mass of red. Rogue had red stripes instead of white. And every time he looked at Jean, he had to remind himself that her eyes were green and not the brown they appeared.  
  
At least he never forgot her hair color. He hated her hair.  
  
When the only color one sees is red, it was pretty easy to develop a hatred of it. He hated red. He longed for any other color besides red. But he was surrounded by it. He surrounded himself in it, because at least he knew it was red. No guesses on color. It was all the same.  
  
His sight. His beams. His shades. His car. Her hair.  
  
Everything was red, and he hated it.  
  
He often wondered if Kurt hated the color blue.  
  
He stared down at his uniform, pondering the reason he had come here. Frustration, of course. He hated red, so much that he often came to the Danger Room to work off his deep-seated anger. To tire himself out so that he didn't think about it anymore. Tire himself out so much that maybe, just maybe, he'd lose the energy to power his beams. That they'd stop blasting long enough for him to see in different colors.  
  
The metallic grey of the walls. The yellow of his uniform. The green of her eyes.  
  
His uniform didn't have any red, aside from the requisite ruby quartz in his visor. He had asked for no red.  
  
The Professor understood. He always did.  
  
He knew he'd never "tire himself out" enough for the beams to stop. He was constantly absorbing energy from his surroundings, from the sun or atmosphere, he couldn't remember. He hadn't been listening to the Professor that time. He didn't care how his beams worked. He only wanted to know how to stop them.  
  
But that was impossible. A curse of fate had taken that ability away from him forever.  
  
He was doomed to red.  
  
He hated it and loved it. It was all he had, but he wanted it taken away. He was a superhero, at the cost of colors. At the cost of being normal. At the cost of gazing romantically into someone's eyes.  
  
The eyes were supposed to be green.  
  
He wished she would dye her hair.  
  
~End of Shades of Red~  
  
AN: Short, but I wanted it that way. I tried to think of another reason Scott would hate his power, and how despite the fact all he sees is red, he seems to surround himself in it. I wondered why, and how it would affect his life, and his relationship with jean. 


End file.
